Super Solvers: Midnight Rescue!
thumb|400px Super Solvers: Midnight Rescue! is a side-scrolling puzzle game in the edutainment Super Solvers series. It was the very first game in the series, and was published by The Learning Company in 1989 for Windows DOS and Macintosh PCs, on 5.25" and 3.5" floppy disks. As an educational game, it is designed to strengthen the reading and critical thinking skills of children ages 3 to 5. It was later re-released as part of the Super Solvers Super Learning Collection, and again as Super Solvers Reading Ages 9-12. In 1995 the game was re-released a third time onto CD-ROM, as MS-DOS was growing into a less popular gaming format. Plot The game introduces the player to the Super Solver, the protagonist of the entire series. In this game, we meet his rival, the Master of Mischief, Morty Maxwell (who appears not only as the main antagonist of the Super Solvers series but also in The Learning Company's Treasure series), who is attempting to use his robot minions to paint their school - Shady Glen School - invisible by midnight. To aid him in his plan, the Master of Mischief has constructed six painter robot henchmen named Buffo, Lectro, Pogo, Rollo, and Turbo; however, each of these robots are built to be able to hide a person inside of them - specifically, Morty himself. Gameplay thumb|250px|The Super Solver encounters one of the [[Master of Mischief|Master of Mischief's robots.]] This game has a timer, constantly counting down until midnight. However, the clock pauses when you are reading clues to make it easier on little children. The player controls the Super Solver, and must travel along the hallways of the school in a side-scrolling fashion, with the ability to enter classrooms and go up and down stairwells to the different available floors. They must try and piece together clues they can receive by reading articles and correctly answering questions about them to figure out which of the robots the Master of Mischief may be hiding inside of. These articles range from fictional character diary entries to excerpts from real life famous literary works. The player then must compare their clues to photos they can take of the various robots, which seem to show up randomly in the game's hallways. However, the robots are not defenseless and will either try to crash into the player or launch projectiles at him in the form of marbles or pies. Being hit by either the robot or its projectiles will cause the player to lose either time or film. Successfully photographing a robot will cause it to flee and the player will learn certain characteristics of that particular robot. There are only four clues in total but several photographs can be taken of each robot to reveal more and more parts of its body. Once the four clues have been gathered and photographs of the robots are taken, the player must use their critical thinking to deduce which robot the Master of Mischief is hiding inside of. He can do this by coming across the robot he thinks is the culprit and accusing him of being the villain. If he guessed correctly, the game will end and a bonus score based on remaining film and time will be added, which will also be added to the lifetime score consisting of a total score of all playthroughs. However, if he guesses incorrectly or fails to gather enough information before midnight, the robot will cover Super Solver himself in invisible paint and the game will end as a Game Over. Losing however is lenient in that it does not affect the lifetime score. Each time the player completes the game, his lifetime score increases. At certain score amounts, the player will advance a rank and the game becomes more difficult. At higher ranks, more photographs are required of each robot, the robots will move faster, and some of the articles posted around the school will not contain clues. Reception Midnight Rescue! was one of the first successful combinations of educational and entertaining games. It has received lukewarm to positive reviews. Users at Abandonia gave it a rating of four out of five, saying that "while the 'action' stopped for the educational parts, many of the stories relate to the game (being played), so it never felt like (the game was left)." A review at Home of the Underdogs gave Midnight Rescue! two thumbs up and their Top Dog Award due to the strength of its ability to teach and entertain at the same time. External links *Play online at Play DOS Games Online Category:Super Solvers series Category:80's Games Category:Games By The Learning Company Category:PC Games Category:MS-DOS Games Category:Educational Games Category:Puzzle Games